What's something that scared you as a beginner but doesn't any more and vice versa?

[Schuyler]

What is one thing that scared you when you were new to the hobby but isn't as scary now? 

What's one thing that didn't scare you as a beginner but does now? 

Example: for me chlorine was really scary. I thought it would just kill everything on contact. I would do water changes with buckets and make sure that the water sat for a few minutes with the dechlorinator before putting it in the tank. But now I just use a python and put water straight into the tank from the faucet. 

On the other end, a group of fish or snails gathered in one area didn't phase me as a new hobbyist but now if I see a more than four snails congregated I take a closer look to make sure nothing died.

[GoofyGarra]

Contaminants.

I used to think all my aquarium stuff needed to be perfectly sterile and clean otherwise I was going to kill my fish. These days I'll be using my catch cup for random things and just wash it off before using it for my tank without a problem.

[Justnotrook]

Reefkeeping. I used to be so scared of how “hard” I thought it was, and when I got a saltwater tank as a gift from a friend, I freaked out. The only thing I needed to freak out about in reality was the cost of it all.

[Sora]

Nitrates, I used to freak when the nitrates were above like 20, now I know they are not really bad unless they get above 40-50, plus my plants love them!

[Tlindsey]

I've kept some dangerous fish my years of fishkeeping so getting bit by piranhas or stung by venomous spines of a volitan lionfish or getting bit by a octopus. 

On 10/2/2024 at 8:35 AM, Tlindsey said:

 

 

Edited October 2 by Tlindsey

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/2/2024 at 7:35 AM, Tlindsey said:

I've kept some dangerous fish my years of fishkeeping so getting bit by piranhas or stung by venomous spines of a volitan lionfish or getting bit by a octopus. 

 

If piranhas were legal in Mississippi they would be on my list.

Before I got my red wolf fish I was worried that during water changes I might get bit. I have had Bob for a little over a year and I have never been bit.

I used to think that when someone said a fish needed soft, acidic water that it meant you needed a low ph so I was not concerned about hardness because I didn’t know it existed. Now that I know about hardness I don’t like to get fish that need any kh since my water is very soft and I don’t want to mix water.

[Sandrock14]

Accidentally hurting my fish. Either through too much of a water change, incompatible fishes I placed together in a tank etc...

 

I once placed one of my prized Bristlenose Plecos I grew from an egg to adult in another tank with one of his brothers who was also an adult. They both fought viscously for a cave in a piece of driftwood. I separated them about a day later but he had numerous bleeding/lacerations and they got infected. While he was out of the tank I rebuilt the tank he was originally in. So when I took him back and put him in his original tank, it was not cycled. He got infections and died. I felt really bad because it was all very preventable...

I hope these negative experiences are not repeated through education and learning from such mistakes. As always, patience is key and to take things slow.

Edited October 3 by Sandrock14

[Biotope Biologist]

Fish death. When I was a beginner I took death very personally if the fish didn’t live to its maximum lifespan and beyond. I would think I did something wrong or was cruel and mistreating them in some way I didn’t realize.

 

But fish die. It’s a universal experience of living. There are too many variables to take into account. I still mourn every loss but I no longer stew over it. Very damaging to my mental health and we should take pride in giving our fish the best lives they could possibly ask for. Away from predators and the constant stress of finding food.

[mynameisnobody]

Making BBS scared me, later I realized, it wasn’t scary but til this day, I still stink at it. I’ve seen every video and have bought all the things, but my hatch rate is somewhere around 50%, I stink at it. 

[Tazalanche]

Loaches & ancistrus occasionally like to lie on their backs, even if perfectly healthy.

[Retrophyllum_minus]

Adding new fish to the tank. I am always careful to acclimate them properly and instead of staring at the tank for a long time worrying I just get them in there watch them for a couple minutes and then leave them and I come back later and make sure all is well. I've actually never had an issue with it but it used to scare me a lot more than it does now. 

[Herefishie]

When I first started in the hobby I watched YouTube videos for hours each day. I was so intimidated because I always felt like I needed a gigantic aquarium for one fish based on most of the videos I watched. Yes, bigger is always nice but you really don't need a 90 gallon tank for one betta, lol. 
 

I did make one terrible mistake. I always replaced Purigen with fresh out of the bottle but decided to try to regenerate it. I did not do it correctly and did not rinse it well enough. I plopped it in my tank and the fish started swimming erratically. I knew what it was and yanked it out and did a quick water change but I still lost three Neon Tetras. I felt so bad. 😢

Edited October 4 by Herefishie

[FLFishChik]

Live plants. I thought it would be extremely difficult to keep live aquarium plants alive and that it would be an insane amount of work. Now I don’t know if I could ever go back to the fake plastic/silk plants. 

[tolstoy21]

Cycling an aquarium.

[cmo1922]

Acclimation scared me at first! As long as my temperatures are pretty equal, I just plop and drop now!

Things that scare me now: I have experienced a catastrophic, rapid 40 gallon breeder leak, so I'm always checking out my silicone and for water around the tank base like a mad woman!

[Billipo]

I used to keep tropicals no apparent problems with the one or two tanks I had, but for many, many years I have had only a 29 gallon with Native Ohio fish.

What scares me now, but didn't before is the Internet.

I started the process of resetting up an old 40 gallon breeder tank. When I was checking out "fish stuff", I was overwhelmed by the tank cycling thing. In the past, I just set up the tank ran the filter without fish for a few days, put in a couple fish and gradually stocked tank usually one type of fish at a time.

Never had a problem, yet in this new high tech world somehow I was convinced the world had changed and that tank set up had become a complicated new thing.

[Scaperoot]

Ich. The first time I saw Ich in my 40 breeder, it spread to all my fish within a day. I had a Pictus catfish that was always stressed and he developed Ich soon after we got him. Not sure if having just one was a stressor, but he would freak out and hide every time the light came on. This was in the first two months of keeping my own tanks. I freaked out because I didn't know anything about fish illness, Ich-x, ACO, etc. I scrambled to find some YT videos and miraculously got some Ich-X in time to save most of the fish. I then learned about stress and acclimating fish. It was ignorant of me to dive into fishkeeping without more research and preparation. I learned my lesson the hard way, at the cost of some beautiful fish. I'm grateful to not have had anything like that happen since. I also no longer buy fish from the big box pet stores.  

[TOtrees]

Catastrophic tank breakage. When you have 1-2 dozen tanks running, the odds that any one of them will leak and/or break go up. I've only had it happen twice, and thankfully never crack-BOOM-SPLASH. But it's the kind of think you can't change, and I'm disinclined to let things I can't change cause me stress. 

Also, municipal water flushes/purges, where they dump massive amounts of chlorine or chloramine into the system with no notice. 

[Whitecloud09]

On 10/1/2024 at 11:48 PM, Schuyler said:

 

Example: for me chlorine was really scary. I thought it would just kill everything on contact. I would do water changes with buckets and make sure that the water sat for a few minutes with the dechlorinator before putting it in the tank. But now I just use a python and put water straight into the tank from the faucet.

Yes. I overdosed on dechlor in my first months of the hobby. Now I am not so worried.  Good example.

[Kurt Brutting]

PH scared me at 1st. My LFS told me I must lower my PH or I’ll kill my fish. He sold me PH lowering products and it was a total nightmare. I was checking my parameters constantly and chasing my PH was a daily occurrence. I almost gave up until I started watching Cory, MD, and LRB.